Ms Clare Duffy:

I am aware having read some of the Oireachtas reports that the Senator Moloney knows a great deal about the homemakers scheme.

The homemaker's scheme is a safety net for people who have had to take time out of the workforce to care for someone. The system still uses the disregards, although the national pensions framework in 2010 recommended the introduction of credits. One can have up to 20 years during which one has been out of the work force disregarded. Our issue with it is that it excludes lifetime carers, that is, people who have spent more than those 20 years caring and, therefore, do not have the requisite 520 paid contributions they need, or people who, because of their caring responsibilities, cannot return to work before the age of 56 or whatever. It is very specific to those lifetime carers who have dedicated a huge portion of their lives to caring. The national carers' strategy is subtitled "Recognised, Supported, Empowered". We need that recognition of the major contributions they have made in their lifetimes.